This weekend elections will see 20 members voted onto GOCNSW’s management committee. Whilst candidates jockey for position behind the scenes for the biannual elections, one group of individuals have signed a manifesto for the future direction of the organisation, in their efforts to win the hearts (and votes) of the membership.

Ten members, under the banner of ‘renewal and rejuvenation’, have set out their intentions, if elected, to encourage a greater degree of transparency in the organisation’s workings, more effective long-term planning, and the strengthening of GOCNSW’s ability to meet the needs of the Community.

In terms of literally concrete proposals, the group is also proposing the creation of a new cultural centre.

Sue Thliveris, who is running on the ‘renewal’ ticket, told Neos Kosmos that at the heart of the group’s aspirations was the need for longer-term planning.

“The crux of the matter is that we need to put a program in place for the next five years, rather than tackling things with a knee-jerk reaction,” said Thliveris, who has been a member of GOCNSW for 32 years.

“What we’re also saying is we want more younger voices on the board. It’s time for a few members who have been there for many years to move aside and let the younger ones in.”

Thileveris believes, like other signatories to the ‘renewal’ manifesto, that GOCNSW is at a crossroads which requires a new approach and a new direction.

“We want to grow and modernize, the whole bit. In order to move forward we need to recalibrate the organisation.”

For Soula Thliveris and her fellow ‘renewalists’, the nature of GOCNSW’s election procedure, heavily weighted towards proxy votes, may be an obstacle.

Some members maintain the proxy system in the past has been prone to manipulation, and used by members seeking election to harness the votes of others affiliated to political parties such as Pasok and KKE.

Thliveris describes the proxy vote system as “far from democratic” and urges members to make the vote in person on the day.

GOCNSW’s long-time president Harry Danalis accepts that concerns exists about the proxy vote system, which he told Neos Kosmos are likely to account for 70 per cent of the votes at this weekend’s election.

“We’ve looked into this in the past and tried to see if we can change the constitution to ban proxies, but after legal advice we were told this cannot be done,” said Danalis, though accepts that it may be possible to “make it more stringent in terms of how proxies are used.”

Asked if members affiliated to political parties were likely to influence how proxy votes were cast, GOCNSW’s president said that he felt such affiliations were unlikely to play a major part in deciding a member’s election.

“It’s hard to quantity, but the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) has a very small membership here, perhaps 20 to 30 members, for Pasok my guess is between 80 and 150. Affiliation based on family, that’s the big thing that influences people.” On the ‘renewal’ group and their agenda for change, Danalis says it’s business as usual.

“Every time we have elections various groups put out platforms on what they intend to do. They’re free elections and every person has got the right to promote themselves. I’ve no problem with their manifesto.”

32 members have put themselves forward for the election which will be held on Sunday 4 Dec 2011. Votes may be cast on the day between 8:30am and 6pm at the Greek Orthodox Community Club , 206-210 Lakemba Street, Lakemba NSW 2195.

The ten members running on the ‘renewal’ ticket are: John Daviskas, Vivi Koutsounadis , Stan Koulouris, Solon Kypridemos, Maria Sarelas, Jenny Speis, John Terzis, Soula Thliveris, Joanna Mavrantonis and Elektra Velissaris.

The other candidates standing are: Panagiota Avramidis, Dorothy Basil, Chris Belechras, Dimitrios Bekris, Harry Danalis, Panagiotis Dukas, Panagiotis Delimitros, George Diamantaris, Julia George, Chris Georgopoulos, Chris Gravanis ,Ourania Karteris, Kleanthis Kotopoulos , Gerasimos Liberatos, Nikolaos Malaxos, Konstantinos Papanikitas, Sam Pappas, Alexander Samaras, Zisis Tsatsis, Mighael Tsilimos, Panagiotis Tsirioris and Panagiotis Τsintilas.